As almost any keen political observer can tell you, the populations within “Middle America” are solidly conservative. From low taxes to traditional values, most voters in the Midwest and agricultural South are adamant about their Republican politics. However, the heartland wasn’t always the homogenous bloc it is today. In reality, states like Kansas, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan have both agricultural and industrial socialist roots. While Joe Biden’s brand of centrism has managed to reestablish Democratic control of the Blue Wall states of Michigan and Wisconsin, deep systemic problems remain: Wealth inequality, increasing drug abuse and mental health epidemics are still incredibly prevalent. Many of these problems, like most issues, cannot be whisked away by one-time policy prescriptions, but there is a vacuum that the Left can fill. Leftists and progressives need to target the union heritage of the Rust Belt and Midwest.
The story starts in the early to mid-2010s. As a direct result of the Democratic party’s abandonment of unions and embrace of cultural politics, Michigan and Wisconsin flipped red for much of the decade, choosing to elect Republican governors. While unemployment declined and wage earnings rose during Barack Obama’s tenure, this growth was not entirely genuine. The sparring between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016 continued to demonstrate that the Rust Belt states needed an economic revitalization.
The problem with sporadic economic growth is that it can have unforeseen consequences. When you don’t account for the massive disparity between the upper and lower classes, you can incorrectly assume that stock market graphs are representative of all.
Despite the economy’s rosy appearance, workers began to suffer from the domination of overly powerful corporations. Amid the chaos, a hopeful yet peculiar movement started to take form. As wealth inequality skyrocketed, Republican governors like Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Bill Schuette of Michigan were undercut by their union-busting agendas and suffered a loss to the Democrats in 2019. This is not to say that the Democratic Party upholds the working class’ organized interests – they do not – but it shows a defined resistance to the hyper-privatization of the Right.
Spontaneous job growth also comes with the modern fallbacks of comparatively low wages and minimal benefits. Moreover, with the coronavirus’ devastating economic impact in the mix, the need for an organized workforce is evident. The fact of the matter is that Americans today generally understand unions are needed to constrict corporate power. Now, as unions are at their most popular with Americans since the 1960s, the moment for the labor Left has arrived.
However, the debilitating claim that Biden is a so-called “advocate” of the labor movement is gaslighting – to say the least. His potential appointments to Secretary of Labor include some progressive candidates, like Bernie Sanders, but that possibility is slowly melting away as more typical, centrist Dems are being lined up as his potential nominees. The Left has an opportunity to show how a Biden presidency will replicate the milquetoast outcomes of the Obama era.
The country’s interior is defined by its sprawling farms and gritty cities. In that beauty lies a hidden gem for growing labor movements. Coastal areas, while extremely important, are not the be-all and end-all of leftism. The Left should step up to the plate and see the potential in this imminent Biden blunder.
